Top 100 Master System Games

[Pingfa]

http://retro-sanctuary.com/TOP%20100%20 ... e%201.html

What's there is pretty good, but, in my opinion, many great games that could have easily replaced much lesser games were left out - I think any of these could make the cut:

Action Fighter
Dynamite Dux
Psychic World
Enduro Racer
Ninja, The
Rastan
Renegade
Quartet
Time Soldiers
Transbot

Then again, I'm not much of a fan of sports games or puzzle games, so I'd replace all those.
Personally, I like what's there, but I don't like those numbers - Rambo=100?

[brickiemart]

Wow, I wasn't even aware most of these games existed, that's what happens when the majority of your sales occur outside North America. I disagree with certain rankings, like having Zillion so low and Master of Darkness so high, but this top 100 will give me a resource for some new games to try, thanks for posting!

[Marspants]

Thanks for the link, they also have some more All Time Top Game lists there too for other systems if anyone's interested. I need to beef up my Master System Knowledge.

[Pingfa]

Wow, I wasn't even aware most of these games existed, that's what happens when the majority of your sales occur outside North America. I disagree with certain rankings, like having Zillion so low and Master of Darkness so high, but this top 100 will give me a resource for some new games to try, thanks for posting!

Indeed, I'd say the Master System has quite a library of hidden gems. Many of these games are really rare, though, so you'll probably only get the chance to emulate them.
This list induced me to try out a few games I didn't give much of a chance before or knew about but didn't think they'd be worth playing. Chuck Rock 2, Masters of Combat (best 8-bit fighter, in my opinion), and Alien 3 are all worth your time.
I agree about the rankings - it's clear the author has personal tastes.

Thanks for the link, they also have some more All Time Top Game lists there too for other systems if anyone's interested. I need to beef up my Master System Knowledge.

Speaking of which, check out the Top 100 for N64 - I was surprised most every game on the list looked great! I thought the N64 only had a handful of good games, but it looks to be an awesome library.
I need to beef up my N64 Knowledge.

[jfrost]

Where is Summer Games (Jogos de Verão)? The game is a fucking classic!

[Original_Name]

Hey, I can't argue too much... they nailed it by putting WonderBoy III: The Dragon's Trap first. God, I love that game!

[Pingfa]

Out of that list, I think The Ninja and Renegade really deserved a spot on the list. Maybe the japanese version of Enduro Racer as well. But you're also listing fairly poor titles like Transbot and Time soldiers, games that I would sooner put in a Top 100 worst master system games.

I have to say he/they did a pretty good job with this, I found myself nodding trough most of the top 20 and there were some really unexpected but great games in there.
The write-ups for each game could use some work though, most of them seemed pretty rushed and not exactly heartfelt.

To be honest, I don't rate any of the games I listed particularly high; I just think most of them could have easily replaced some not-so-good titles in the list. That said, I can get enjoyment out of all of them.
Out of all of them, I probably like the bottom 3 least. All pretty mediocre, but worthy enough to replace some less than mediocre titles in the other list, in my opinion.
In addition to the two you picked out, I'd also like to see Action Fighter on that list. Although, along with The Ninja, it's one of the few SMS games I remember, so nostalgia might play a part in that...

On a side note, does anyone here know the differences - if any - between the SMS and Genesis versions of Chuck Rock II?

[Ack]

You know, I wonder how late some of these games were released, specifically the stuff in Brazil. Some of these look quite amazing.

I would like to note that I don't fully agree with the placing of some of the titles on their Nintendo 64 list, but to each their own I suppose. I wish they had listed where all these games were released...

[jesus 666]

On a side note, does anyone here know the differences - if any - between the SMS and Genesis versions of Chuck Rock II?

The MS version is missing the awful looking butterflies and the messy parallax of the Mega Drive port, it doesn't have that badly drawn amateurish looking face between levels

and the irritating wailing that Chuck Rock junior does when he's injured is gone, The scratchy music is replaced with a more basic and simplified, less intrusive soundtrack, many of the backgrounds are completely re-drawn as are some of the bosses which means that for the levels you no longer have the neverending sludge greeness of the MD version, it's no longer possible to ride the animals (the yoshi sections) but all the sections where you could use them (such as the ant, monkeys, giant bird and lion) are still there. There are extra levels and I've noticed there seems to be another enemy sprite in the Master System version (a massive breasted cave woman for some reason, though I'm not complaining)







I'd admit that the water levels on Mega Drive really outclass those on Master System but tbh they were some of the only levels in the game that I thought were acceptible so I think the MS port is more consistant.

I guess it's about personal preference, but for me loads of effects are no replacement for proper art direction, and at the end of the day the Mega Drive version looks awful for a MD game but the Master System version is pretty impressive for a Master System game

[jesus 666]

It's not like the butterflies look any worse or out of place than other sprites in the game, and they certainly fit the theme of the level (Butterfly Grove
How is the parallax messy?

The level was renamed "butterfly grove" it's proper name is monkey something or other, the butterflies do look out of place, they are messy and distracting, in fact they don't seem to fit with anything else, which is strange until you realise that they were just dumped into the MD port as an after thought probably because the people who handled it thought the game didn't look impressive enough or something, same as with the parallax.

There's no wailing when Chuck is injured, there's just a quick yelp which is barely noticeable. He does scream when you die though, but he probably would've done so on sms as well if it had any decent voice sampling capabilites. There's still the annoying animation in both versions..?

Whether it's a hardware issue or not doesn't change the simple fact that it's thankfully not in the SMS version.

The music on MD is anything but scratchy, it's actually among the better sounding games for the console. Like all Matt Furniss soundtracks are...?

All it sounds like to me is a poor downsampling of the Amiga versions sound, you need to play more MD games if you think the sound to Chuck Rock is impressive, check out Castlevania Bloodlines, Thunder Force IV or Streets of Rage 2

Having more minimalistic backgrounds is hardly the same thing as changing the art direction.

it has different colour choices, that alone is a different art direction not to mention the clouds and light creeping through the trees, and some redrawn stylised boss designs

Since you were being so hard on the MD version which I like a lot, I grew up with it

Which is the only reason why you like it

detailed backgrounds that fit each stage's name.

Which is because they actually changed the name of the stages to fit in withthe levels

the big bird on the wire (the one with an extremely thick fur, not the one that saves you from the flood on level 5),

Which is completely pointless in the Mega Drive port as it no longer tries to poo on you.

the gui (life meter etc.) is layered behind the background and sometimes disappears completely

Yeah this is a weird thing, I think it's a quirk of the MS hardware or something as this happens in hoards of MS games

very hard to see the spikes in the treetrunk level

This is the truth, though it only catches you a few times before you get wise to it.

I have to correct my earlier post here, there is not an extra sprite in the Master System version the cave women is supposed to be in all versions but is missing from the Mega Drive port, this is possibly some kind of dont-want-to-offend-anyone style political correctness, I think the bird poop being removed is also for the same reason

Stage 2 on Master System is not an extra level either it's another case of the Mega Drive port missing stuff from the original as that stage was on Amiga

The Mega Drive port is also missing the lizards from the early stages whose tales you have to grab, instead you just swing on ropes.

I didn't notice any other differences though I didn't play that far into the MD port before my mind-numbing hatred for it forced me to turn it off.